To choose what uniform I wear?

[katierocks]

I've been a district nurse for just under a year. All has been good, really supportive team and some lovely patients. Until today, when during a routine progress meeting/appraisal, my mentor suggested that it would be better if I altered which uniform I wear so I'm the same as everyone else and it would look better and more cohesive. It would seem that the problem is that most of the team wear a tunic/trousers, whereas I always wear a dress. Both are valid options; some of the others wear a dress during the warmer months but I much prefer wearing the dress option all the time. I just don't like wearing trousers, and out of work always wear skirts or dresses too rather then jeans or leggings.
I don't want to be seen as a troublemaker, but I don't want to change what I wear for work! WWYD??

I’m also district nurse but in Scotland everyone across the whole of NHS Scotland male or female wear the same top/trousers (we also sensibly all wear trainers which I understand nurses in England aren’t always allowed to wear). But I know from talking to colleagues in England that they often have a choice of wearing either a dress or trousers and also often permitted to buy their own trousers. If this is the policy in your trust wear whatever you feel comfortable in.

Ignore it and wear the dress. There are different options available for a reason. Your mentor sounds a bit silly to be honest- I hope they've been giving much more meaningful and insightful guidance too!!

I’m a nurse who chooses to wear a dress rather than tunic and trousers- I haven’t worn trousers in or out of work since 1998!
Assuming that your dress adheres to uniform policy, I wouldn’t change. If your manager raises this again i would ask
her to provide evidence to support her request that trouser and tunics appeared more cohesive and that remind her that you are actually adhering to uniform policy.

If the option to wear a dress is offered then your mentor's advice is faintly ridiculous. Wear whatever approved uniform works for you,

I would be the opposite. Always in trousers, never a skirt or dress. There is no way I'd switch to the other options. Id feel really uncomfortable.
Stick with your completely valid choice from the range offered.

You say that both options are valid and your mentor has no leg to stand on. What a non-issue!

Your manager needs more to do.

Thank you for this. My mum's the same too so maybe I take after her?!
But yeah, my mentor is quite new in the job and there's a big push for social media exposure for the team so I think it's partly for that.
But she was making comments like 'aren't you cold going out in this weather in your dress' and 'you'd save a fortune on tights', and then she offered to get me a set of the other uniform to try!

Haha I had this too, though not from my manager it was my colleagues. They could never understand why I wore a dress all the time when they were wearing tunic/trousers, until I pointed out that the trousers never fitted me properly and had to always have the button undone because the sizing was awful. Turned out that most of them had to do the same, so a few of them tried wearing the dresses instead and now they pretty much all do and say how much more comfortable it is! Plus we get an allowance for tights too.

Surely the purpose of a mentor is to support you, not supervise what you wear?